The Cal State San Bernardino men’s basketball team has started practice for the coming season. However, a player the Coyotes thought was returning has decided not to, leaving coach Jeff Oliver with a lot of holes to fill.

The Coyotes return only one starter: senior James Perkins (8.6 ppg). Shooting guard Kenneth Sims (14 ppg), the Coyotes’ second-leading scorer, would have been a senior but decided not to return. He was the team’s top three-point shooter, making 75 of 196 attempts.

Oliver said Sims had indicated as early as the spring that he might not be returning. Sims, a Sacramento native who transferred to Cal State from American River Junior College where he was the state player of the year, has a young son that remained with his mother in that area.

The long separations proved hard to overcome.

“He was very close to his son. He played his best basketball when his son was here visiting,” Oliver said. “We knew there was a very strong possibility he wouldn’t be coming back, so we recruited with that in mind.”

The Coyotes finished 21-6 last year, sharing California Collegiate Athletic Association honors with Cal Poly Pomona. They have won or tied for the conference title the last six years. They were eliminated in a West regional quarterfinal by Alaska-Fairbanks.

Among the reserves who look to play bigger roles this year are senior point guard Antoine Parker, junior forward David Reichel, junior forward Yoseph Yaisrael (Alta Loma) and sophomore guard Khorry Lewis (San Gorgonio).

“We’re not going to be as big, but we’re going to be quicker, more athletic and together,” Oliver said.

Those that want to see the Coyotes play early will have to hit the road. They won’t play their first home game until Jan. 6. They have tournaments in Seattle, Phoenix and Las Vegas, the first being Nov. 18-19.

They will play an exhibition game at Loyola Marymount Nov. 12, then play another the next day at USC.

BULLDOGS COME CLOSE

There is no quit in the Redlands volleyball team. The Bulldogs are 4-12 overall and 4-4 in conference play, but their effort last weekend was noteworthy.

The team lost to Simpson 30-15, 25-30, 22-30, 30-26, 16-14. That was the same foe that got past traditional Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference frontrunner La Verne in four games.

It may look like a decline from the 2004 season in which the Bulldogs went 14-12, but looks can be deceiving. In the last seven losses, the Bulldogs have taken at least one game from their opponent.

“We have played a lot more difficult schedule, because we have a certain level we’re trying to get to,” second-year coach Mari Burningham said. “I don’t think playing an easy schedule is the way to do that.”

The Bulldogs have used two setters Redlands native Jessica Walker, a junior, who transferred from Cal State San Bernardino, (265 assists, 20 service aces, 122 digs) and senior Diana Lautenberger (215 assists, 21 aces).

UCR GOLF ERS FINISH

The UC Riverside men’s team finished 11th at the Fresno State Lexus Golf Classic at the San Joaquin Country Club.

The Highlanders moved from 13th to 11th with a final round of 302 for a team total of 890, just two strokes out of the top 10. Spencer Paschall was UCR’s top individual, placing 29th with a 223 (70-77-76). Robert Mink, a transfer from Cal State San Bernardino, was 32nd at 224.

Among the other contributors were junior Nick Wilkins (Lo ma Linda), whose 71 was the team’s best score on the final day, and senior Cameron Nel son (Rialto/Aquinas) who were 46th and 59th at 224 and 225 respectively.

MIKOLON THE MAN

Redlands senior run ning back Karl Mikolon was named the SCIAC Athlete of the Week for the week of Oct. 9-15. Mikolon ran for 220 yards on 25 carries in the Bulldogs’ 32-14 thrashing of La Verne. He had two touch down runs, the most notable being a 72-yard run in the third quarter that stretched the lead to 19-7.

That performance ranks Mi kolon, a native of Rohnert Park, eighth on the school’s all-time single-game rushing list. On the season he has 468 yards on 76 carries.

On the women’s side, weekly honors went to volleyball play er Mo Coverdale of Cal Lu theran who was instrumental in that school stopping La Verne’s 56-match win streak in SCIAC play.

SBVC PUNT ER EXCELS

San Bernardino Val ley (2-4, 1-3) has had trouble getting in the win colum, with three losses by a combined 10 points. But the kicking game has shown marked improve ment. Freshman punter Jar ret Cabrera (Riverside North), who leads the Foothill Confer ence, averaged 46 yards on five kicks in last week’s 14-10 loss to Mt. San Jacinto. His first kick was sub-par, but he later got off boots of 63 and 55 yards.

Freshman kicker Mike Ramos (Redlands East Valley) missed two of three field-goal at tempts, but coach Pat Meech said that likely had more to do with the fact that SBVC used a new holder because the nor mal one missed practice time last week.

Michelle Gardner has covered high school sports and local colleges for the Daily Bulletin and Sun since 2002. She previously covered a wide variety of sports from the high school level to the professional ranks in Florida with tenures at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Naples Daily News and the Fort Myers News-Press and is graduate of the University of Florida.

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